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Palestine

September 20, 2026

Ramallah 5:48 am

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron arrive to hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023.

Analysis

After France's settlement ban, Israel sees no warming of ties with Macron government

Israeli diplomats say France’s decision to ban imports from West Bank settlements has brought bilateral relations to an unprecedented low point.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Jewish settlement of Kedumim, in the West Bank

Analysis

Europe’s West Bank trade ban fires warning shot at Israel’s economy

Weeks before key Israeli elections, a dozen nations announced new trade restrictions targeting settlements in the West Bank, delivering a sharp rebuke to Israel's government that could presage additional international pressure.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Chaim Goldberg / AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu threatens to sue Haaretz for reporting UAE warned Israel of Oct. 7 attack

The Emirati president reportedly warned that a planned attack could cause bloodshed, destabilize the region and threaten the Abraham Accords.

Palestinians hold up the green Hamas flag during a protest by supporters of both the Fatah and Hamas movements, as they rally in support of the Palestinian people following Friday noon prayers in Hebron, occupied West Bank, Nov. 3, 2023.

Majority of Palestinians lose trust in Hamas and Fatah, new poll finds

A recent poll by a Palestinian survey center found that trust in Palestinian factions has declined, amid stalled efforts to implement the Gaza peace plan and escalating settler violence in the West Bank.

Latest News

12 countries including France, UK, Canada end trade with West Bank settlements

West Bank settlements

Katz warns PA against 'Oct. 7-style' attack as West Bank violence rises

Israeli soldiers take positions during a military operation in the town of Qalqiya, in the occupied West Bank, Dec. 4, 2025.

Analysis

LORA missile test reveals limits of Germany’s Gaza criticism of Israel

A woman walks past a model of a Lora missile, Israel's long range artillery missile at the Israel defence stall at the international DefExpo 2008 defence fair, in New Delhi on February 16, 2008. India kicked off South Asia's largest defence fair, with hundreds of global weapons firms offering their latest hardware to the country's technology-hungry military. About 450 weapons companies from 30 countries are present at the four-day "DefExpo" in New Delhi, with several big-ticket announcements expected. AFP P

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

As Israeli settler attacks mount, Trump avoids public pressure on Netanyahu

Israeli soldiers arrive in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has faced escalating Israeli settler violence over the past month, on Aug. 29, 2026.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Daoud Kuttab

Palestine Columnist

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Abeer Ayyoub

In Istanbul, reporting on Palestine

Naima Morelli

In Rome, reporting on Middle East culture

Fatima AbdulKarim

In Ramallah, reporting on the West Bank

A member of Palestinian civil defense extinguishes a fire at a Hamas training camp after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip December 24, 2013. A Gaza sniper shot dead an Israeli civilian over the border on Tuesday and Israel hit back with air strikes on two Hamas training camps which hospital officials said killed a Palestinian girl near one of the targets. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX16TBF

Gaza border residents live under constant Israeli fire

Israeli troops regularly fire on Gaza's border residents, with locals suspecting Israel is trying to reestablish a buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is greeted by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro (L) as he arrives in Tel Aviv November 8, 2013. Kerry met privately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday before joining nuclear talks between major powers and Iran in Geneva. REUTERS/Jason Reed (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX154Z7

Knesset member: Netanyahu can't pass an agreement

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Knesset member Orit Strock repeats the message she and her associates delivered to US Ambassador Dan Shapiro — that their coalition will block an agreement with the Palestinians.

Gaza Salafists pledge allegiance to ISIS

Al-Qaeda's decision to cut ties with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) continues to polarize the global jihadist network, with Gaza's Salafists siding with the latter.

Israel's Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Mount of Olives during a tour in Jerusalem February 2, 2009. Netanyahu is a candidate for prime minister in Israel's February 10 election. Opinion polls forecast victory for right-winger Netanyahu. In the background is the Dome of the Rock in the compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM) - RTXB5P8

Bibi becomes victim of Israel’s radical right

Twenty years after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led the campaign of incitement against the “Oslo criminals,” he has become a victim of the same messianic political movement that he nurtured.

Gaza political cartoonist faces censorship, death threats

A Gaza artist has been threatened for drawing a cartoon that demonized Islamic Jihad.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) stands next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel after their joint news conference in Jerusalem February 25, 2014. Germany views Iran as a potential threat not just to Israel, but also to European countries, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3FPD4

Merkel visits Israel as violence flares on Temple Mount

The violent clashes on the Temple Mount and the attack on an arms convoy on its way to Lebanon, both while German Chancellor Angela Merkel was visiting Israel, are warning signs of the current situation's fragility.

Fatah faction leader Mohammed Dahlan addresses the media during a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah January 15, 2006. Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved voting in Arab East Jerusalem in a January 25 Palestinian parliamentary election but said it would ban the militant Hamas group from listing its candidates on ballots there. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel - RTR1BTKM

Fatah leadership rejects Dahlan's comeback bid

Fatah infighting between rival camps of President Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan is continuing to escalate as Dahlan seeks to revive his political career.

U.S. President Barack Obama is pictured on-screen speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington March 4, 2012. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2YU77

AIPAC sets 'guidelines' for Iran nuclear deal

AIPAC, the American Israel Political Action Committee, makes the case for congressional pressure on Iran.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat attends a meeting in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah July, 19, 2004. [Palestinian President Yasser Arafat sought on Monday to defuse a leadership crisis triggered by unprecedented unrest in the Gaza Strip over corruption within his government and security forces.] - RTXMS1N

Jewish/Palestinian history without borders

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas should return to the statement made in 2004 by Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, recognizing Israel as the Jewish state, while Israelis should recognize Palestine as the homeland of Palestinians.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves after attending a ceremony with Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem January 21, 2014. Harper told Israel's parliament on Monday any comparison between the Jewish state and apartheid South Africa was "sickening", drawing a standing ovation - and an angry walkout by two Arab legislators. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX17O8X

Hamas denies secret message to Netanyahu

Hamas officials denied that Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh sent a secret message to his Israeli counterpart, but debate continues within the movement about a dialogue with Israel.

The peril of escalation in Syria

Edward Dark writes that Aleppans will pay the price for any escalation in the war; the UN Security Council votes for humanitarian assistance and calls for greater cooperation to confront al-Qaeda in Syria; 16 female journalists cover the Middle East; and exorcism in the Gaza Strip.

FOR RELEASE WITH FEATURE BC-PALESTINIAN-EXORCISM - Ziad al-Tatar, a 38-year-old Palestinian exorcist, uses a Koran placed on a man's chest and readings from the Koran piped through earphones and honey to exorcise a demon from a patient. In his spartan clinic, adorned with framed Koranic verses, Tatar admits to a steady stream of patients stricken with ailments ranging from impotence to infiltration by devils known in Arabic as Djinn.

DPS/KM - RTRFVSJ

Palestinian teen dies in exorcism

A teenage Palestinian girl has died while undergoing an exorcism, a widespread practice in Gaza's environment of poor government control and health education.